Charity wedding favours

overandabove

Hi everyone I am planning on doing charity wedding favours for my wedding in September. The charity I have in mind would send out us out place cards. What I’m wondering is how much to donate? I was thinking around 250-400 but really don’t have a clue if this is reasonable! Any thoughts?

Pen Rua

I've not heard of "charity wedding favours."

A quick Google suggests that the couple make a donation in return for cards from the charity, or, buy cards from the charity to leave at the guests' table. Is that right?

Perhaps if you / your family / guests have a special connection to the particular charity, it might be nice. But to me as a guest, a card saying you donated to a charity isn't really important to me. If I'm honest, it's probably something I'd leave on the table or put to recycling later. Kinda like that old thing where you could donate an animal on someone's behalf as a gift to them. Meh. Could be just me, though.

From a very cynical point of view, could you not just donate in private and not have the favours?

Again, I appreciate that you / your family / guests might have a particular reason to support a particular charity, and in light of that the foregoing might not be reasonable at all.

Recliner

I'm assuming whatever you would normally spend on wedding favours would be an appropriate amount. But if it's a charity that has special significance to you and your OH, then there's no right or wrong amount.
What I would say is maybe to save the charity some money, is not to get them to send you out cards.
What I saw at a couple of weddings pre Covid was a framed notice placed where the guests would enter the function room stating the charity and that a donation had been made in lieu of favours. I thought this was a nice idea.

overandabove

Yes the charity I have in mind do great work for people who have cystic fibrosis and their families. My cousin died for this illness when she was just 40 so it is also a way to remember her on the day as she can’t be with us. The place cards wouldn’t be intended to be brought home they would be like any place cards on wedding tables with the guests names on them. The charity isn’t very well known so it would raise awareness of it as well I’d imagine.

overandabove

Thanks Recliner that’s actually a really good point that I didn’t think of.

Recliner

overandabove wrote: »

Thanks Recliner that’s actually a really good point that I didn’t think of.

One of the weddings donated to a suicide awareness charity as tragically a family member had taken their own life a couple of months before.
They set up a little table with a photo of the person, a candle and the details of the charity.
It was lovely because it wasn't the focal point of the wedding but family members were able to see that the person was remembered on the day.

Pen Rua

overandabove wrote: »

Yes the charity I have in mind do great work for people who have cystic fibrosis and their families. My cousin died for this illness when she was just 40 so it is also a way to remember her on the day as she can’t be with us. The place cards wouldn’t be intended to be brought home they would be like any place cards on wedding tables with the guests names on them. The charity isn’t very well known so it would raise awareness of it as well I’d imagine.

Ah, I see - that added context helps. Thanks.

End of the day, your choice. But given the added context & your connection, it could very well be a touching part of the wedding.

Hope all goes well for you in Sept.

gutenberg

For our wedding, my husband & I each chose a charity we had a connection to/supported. We bought lapel pins from each, with a 50/50 split, and made a donation on top. We then attached a pin to the namecard at each place setting, alternating between mine & his charity. We also had little notices on the tables explaining the charities and that people were to take their pin home with them! It gave people something to take away, and supported a good cause. I recently met up with a friend and he still had his pin on his coat, which was nice to see